The invention relates generally to an improved tone arm assembly for record players. The present invention particularly relates to providing both high fidelity sound performance with anti-skip performance from the same tone arm assembly.
It is well known in the art that to reproduce the information recorded on a record, a tone arm is conventionally pivotally mounted at a fixed location upon a chassis adjacent the side of a rotatably mounted turntable. The weight of the tone arm wedges the stylus of a reproducing pick-up assembly into the groove, with the electrical output of the reproducing pick-up being proportional to the lateral displacement of the stylus by the lateral vibration of the groove sides. In a such a record player, grooves of the record carry lateral vibrations that move the stylus of a cartridge connected to a tone arm assembly back and forth at right angles to the groove. The groove is a very slight spiral, and thus almost a perfect circle, with its center corresponding with the center of the disc. Thus, the stylus moves back and forth along a radius from the record""s center. With such a conventional arrangement, it can be seen that the stylus moves through an arcuate path and thus the vibrations of the stylus are not maintained at right angles to the groove as they should be.
There are a number of problems typically associated with record players. Most notably, conventional tone arms are prone to skating across the record. As a result of the forces exerted on the stylus of such a conventional tone arm during playing of a record, since there is an angle between the line tangent to the groove and the line between the stylus point and the pivot point of the tone arm, there is a component of force directed radially inwardly of the record which tends to pull the stylus towards the center of the record. This radially directed force may cause the stylus to jump over one or more convolutions of the spiral groove in a skating or skipping action.
The danger of a tone arm skating across a record is greatly exacerbated during xe2x80x9cscratchingxe2x80x9d of the record where the turntable is rotated back and forth successively with the stylus still in communication with the grooves of the record. As can be understood, such movement increases the directional forces on the grooves of the record thus increasing the likelihood of skipping or skating.
To address such skipping and skating problems which are encountered frequently when scratching, it has been found that the employment of tone arm assembly with a straight tone arm tube reduces the likelihood that the stylus will skip or skate out the grooves during scratching. In general, the path of a straight tone arm reduces the directional forces during scratching. The details of why the path and the configuration of a straight tone arm assembly reduces the skipping and skating during scratching is well known in the art and need not be discussed herein.
In addition, the radial forces, created by the conventional tone arm during playing of a record, not only make the record prone to skipping but also reduce the overall sound quality of playback. More specifically, if there is any deviation from the radial vibration of the stylus, a tracking error will result. Such tracking error creates distortion and unpleasant noise in the reproduced sound, as well as increased record wear. Even the slightest tracking error will have an effect of the overall quality of the sound.
To address the foregoing problems with directional forces of the stylus in the grooves as they relate to sound quality, many attempts have been made in the prior art to reduce the directional forces for the specific purpose of improving the quality of playback sound. It has been found, as is well known in the art, that the employment of a tone arm assembly with an S-shaped tone arm tube improves the fidelity of the sound played back from the record by improving the signal to noise ratio. In general, the path of an S-shaped tone arm reduces the directional forces during playback for better tracking an high quality playback. The details of why the path and the configuration of an S-shaped tone arm assembly reduces the skipping and skating during scratching is well known in the art and need not be discussed herein.
In view of the foregoing, turntables are typically manufactured with a tone arm assembly that is optimized either for anti-skating/anti-skipping or for high fidelity. For anti-skipping, the tone arm assembly is equipped with a straight tone arm tube. Alternatively, the tone arm assembly is equipped with an S-shaped tone arm tube for achieving higher fidelity play over the tone arm assembly with the straight tone arm. Once the tone arm assembly is selected it is permanently installed onto a turntable for use.
Known record turntables are specifically configured, by design of the tone arm assembly, to be optimized either for anti-skipping or for high fidelity but not both. Since, users of turntables, such as a disc jockeys, play records with and without scratching, two complete turntables are typically used. One of the turntables has a tone arm assembly with a straight tone arm tube with the other turntable has a tone arm assembly with an S-shaped tone arm tube. When a disc jockey performs at a given venue, the two turntables must be both brought to accommodate both types of performance, that is, high fidelity playback and scratching.
As can be understood, the use of two separate turntables is not only cumbersome for transport but is also expensive in that two separate turntables are required to accommodate the two different types of playback style.
In view of the foregoing, there is a demand for a tone arm assembly that can accommodate high fidelity playback of records as well as a scratching performance without skipping or skating. There is a particular demand for a single tone arm assembly on a single turntable that can accommodate high fidelity playback of records as well as a scratching performance. Moreover, there is a demand for a tone arm assembly that can accommodate both a straight tone arm tube and an S-shape tone arm tube. There is a demand for a tone arm assembly that can be easily converted from a straight tone arm tube configuration to an S-shaped tone arm tube and back. Also, there is a demand for a tone arm assembly that is modular in construction.
The present invention preserves the advantages of prior art turntables and tone arm assemblies. In addition, it provides new advantages not found in currently available turntables and tone arm assemblies and overcomes many disadvantages of such currently available apparatuses.
The invention is generally directed to the novel and unique tone arm assembly and method of converting such an assembly. The assembly has particular use in the disc jockey music industry in that the turntable can be easily converted over from a turntable with an S-shaped tone arm tube with high quality sound to a turntable with a straight tone arm tube for better anti-skip performance.
The tone arm assembly of the present invention enables the easiest and most cost-efficient way of providing both high fidelity sound and best anti-skip performance in a single tone arm assembly. The present invention addresses the foregoing problems associated with the prior art while providing superior performance and reliability.
The tone arm assembly of the present invention includes a includes a fixed base. A support bracket is connected to the fixed base and rotatable thereon. A tone arm housing is mounted in the support bracket and rotatable therein. A separate straight tone arm tube and an S-shaped tone arm tube both have a connector at one end that is engageable with a connector on the tone arm base. The other ends of the tone arm tubes have another connector for removably attaching a cartridge thereto. The straight tone arm tube and the S-shaped tone arm tube are interchangeably connected to the tone arm housing via the respective connectors.
For example, for better anti-skip performance during play, such as during scratching, it may be preferred to connect the straight tone arm tube to the tone arm base. In the event high fidelity with high signal to noise ratio sound is desired, the straight tone arm tube is disconnected from the tone arm base. The S-shaped tone arm tube is then connected to the tone arm base using a connector which is identical to the connector used to connect the straight tone arm tube to the tone arm base. When better anti-skip performance is desired, the S-shaped tone arm is then disconnected and the straight tone arm is then re-connected. As a result, the straight tone arm tube and the S-shaped tone arm tube can be easily interchanged on the same tone arm base depending on the desired performance.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a single tone arm assembly that can provide both high fidelity sound and anti-skip performance.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a tone arm assembly that can accommodate both a straight tone arm tube and an S-shaped tone arm tube.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a tone arm assembly that can easily switch between a straight tone arm tube and an S-shaped tone arm tube without special tools.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a tone arm assembly that is modular in construction to easily accommodate different type of tone arm tubes.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a tone arm assembly that obviates the need to use two different turntables to provide both high fidelity sound and anti-skip performance.